


One Day, We'll Tell The Story of Us

by sunsxleil



Series: Merry Christmas, I Love You [10]
Category: Carol (2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Surprises, photo album
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28029813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsxleil/pseuds/sunsxleil
Summary: Carol is often quite vocal about what she wants, including what she wants for Christmas. So, when she in fact does not breathe a word of what she might want to receive on Christmas to Therese, Therese tries to do a little asking around on her own. Which is how she ends up waiting for Dannie at a street corner, Abby keeping Carol occupied in the Madison Avenue apartment.
Relationships: Carol Aird/Therese Belivet
Series: Merry Christmas, I Love You [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035672
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	One Day, We'll Tell The Story of Us

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Story of Us by Taylor Swift, only because I can imagine Carol and Therese using the gift to go all 'and this was from when we had a trip west' to their grandchildren. Prompt from a little Google search where [this list](https://oneshotsandheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/167716040859/christmas-prompts) popped up. Hope you guys enjoy this!

Therese wasn’t quite sure how to hide this from Carol, so she needed a little help with the whole thing.

It’s Christmas day, December 25th, and while Therese is _supposed_ to be back in her Madison Avenue apartment with Carol, here she is at the street corner blocks away. The excuse she gave was that Dannie had asked to meet her, to give Therese his gifts to her and Carol. That was… half true. Therese _is_ meeting Dannie, but he didn’t _ask_ to meet up with her.

Tapping her foot, Therese glanced down the road once more. Dannie was supposed to bring Therese _her gift to Carol_ , _five minutes ago_. But his car is nowhere to be seen.

And Abby, oh Abby—Abby might not know a thing about what Therese is planning, but that look Therese got from her before Therese went out of the apartment felt as if Abby saw right through her. All that was missing was a wink. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll keep her occupied,’ or something like that. But Carol is Carol.

Not even Abby can keep Carol so occupied that she forgets Therese has been gone for quite some time.

“Therese!” And Therese turns around to Dannie, the wrapped gift in his hands, hunched over panting on the pavement.

“Dannie?” Dannie swats her hands away and hands her the gift instead, giving her a tired, but boyish smile.

“See, if I drove, I wouldn’t get here till dark.”

Given, it is mid-afternoon, but that would be an exaggeration. Though the difference between five minutes later and sunset didn’t exactly click in Therese’s brain at the moment, for obvious reasons.

“You _ran_ to here?”

“Jogged.” Dannie says, and Therese’s eyes are wide. Good for her though, now that she has Carol’s present. “You better get a good picture of her when she opens that.”

Lest Dannie’s forced athleticism go to waste. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure of it.” And that would be a perfect first picture in Carol’s new album, wouldn’t it?

* * *

Carol narrows her eyes at Abby.

“What?” While Abby is obviously honest in her cluelessness, the amusement in those eyes makes Carol question Abby’s innocence.

“Therese wouldn’t take this long to get a present.” Carol explains. There is a light shake in her voice, a little restlessness in her fingers, but she knows Therese well enough not to be worried about any third-party business. “And _you_ obviously know something.”

Abby smirks. Carol would be kidding herself if she said she didn’t want to tip the glass of eggnog into Abby’s face as Abby took a sip. “I do not know of that which you speak.” Carol rolls her eyes. Abby says that, but then the more seconds pass by, the brighter Abby’s eyes get, as if she’s thinking ‘ _what I would give to be able to have a record of this whole thing_ ’.

Carol doesn’t know if she should be amused.

Just as Carol narrows her eyes, the apartment door pushes open, and Carol springs up and off the couch toward it.

“If I were you, I’d close my eyes.” Abby says, and Carol spares a glance at her with a raised brow. Abby only smiles wider, and raises her glass to her. Carol rolls her eyes and marches away from Abby, over to the apartment door.

“Darling, what took you so long?” But then Carol answers her own question when she sees the small package Therese is holding—and the way Therese cannot seem to juggle locking their door and holding the present in a way that will not be seen to whoever approached her from the living room.

It’s a small package, nothing special really. And one could say, but Carol, how do you know that’s not the present from Dannie? To that Carol would answer, how could it be a present from Dannie if Therese looks at her that shyly, while slowly holding up the gift to her?

“Dannie had no presents for us, but I asked him to bring me my present to you.” She says, and Carol cannot help but open her hands to receive the gift. Carol holds it, carefully, like a box made of porcelain or glass instead of, what she’s guessing to be, something a lot less fragile. “I hope you like it.”

“Therese,” Carol says. ‘I love it already,’ or ‘I love you,’ could work, but Carol gulps those words down, along with her tears glazing over her eyes. “Let’s go to the living room so I can open it.”

* * *

The gift is nothing too special, not really. Therese did not have to spend too much on it this year, but she feels Carol might value it more than last Christmas’ ring or the other Christmas’ robe. This, compared to the others, was easily found in multiple shops in the adjacent streets from where Therese works, so really, it isn’t as grand as how they look to be making it out to be.

It is grand, however, because if it wasn’t, Carol would have told her what she wanted for Christmas.

 _“What do you want for Christmas this year?”_ Therese had asked her one night, when they were in bed, lights closed and the two of them just waiting for sleep to come.

 _“Oh, anything.”_ Carol had said. _“For as long as I can have you in the night.”_ On other years, Carol might follow that up with what she feels she wants for Christmas. That night, however, Carol followed it up with nothing. There was only a kiss, and a look, and the way Carol fell asleep looking at her, and those were the kind of nights where neither of them could discern where the dream started and when it ended, because it was a dream enough to be able to look at the other as they fell asleep.

So, Therese asked around. Abby gave her no answers, and none of their other friends were too close to Carol to know anything either. Rindy, as good as she is, mentioned nothing on the few visits, and asking Rindy outright would be like blurting it out to Carol.

Then Therese found herself in the same store as Carol’s boss one day, and being a man, he had told Therese the story of how one of his employees wanted a photo album for Christmas and seemed to be making a big deal out of it.

 _“She thinks it’s too sentimental,”_ he had said, _“and she doesn’t seem like the sentimental type, but don’t we all get a little sentimental when we get older?”_

They were getting older. Even if to Therese, age only made Carol look more beautiful.

To the side, Abby’s eyebrows could only raise so high. That’s not to say she isn’t smiling; it’s one thing to make a big deal out of a photo album as a gift, but another for two lovers to share the same expression while it’s being opened.

As if they’re unwrapping a marriage proposal, and could only keep themselves contained for so long before they burst into tears saying ‘yes, I do’.

Carol, meanwhile, looks absolutely stunned.

“How did you know?” She says, eyes wide and looking up at Therese. “I… I didn’t even tell Abby.” Carol laughs, and her tears threaten to fall just as much as her smile threatens to break her face. “I only ever told one person, and it was at the shop.” Carol shakes her head and sniffles, and Therese smiles.

“Merry Christmas, Carol.”

Carol sets the album aside on the couch and launches herself, off, up, her arms wrapping around Therese and her face burying into Therese’s shoulder.

“I love you,” Carol says. “My sweet, sweet angel.”

Therese laughs, but her nose is getting just as clogged and eyes getting just as glassy as Carol’s. “I love you, too.” And they hold on to each other, the album a promise of their past, their present, and their future.

**Author's Note:**

> Now, tell me how a photo album isn't the definition of 'one day, we'll tell the story of us', especially to grandkids. Anyway, the prompt was: "How did you know? I only ever told one person." This prompt was a delight to have, in my honest opinion, so I hope you guys enjoyed it too!
> 
> As it is, all mistakes are mine, and I don't own the characters—Patricia Highsmith does. Two weeks to Christmas! And of course, it's December, so happy Carolmas!


End file.
